Happy New Year dear all!

| 31/12/2018 | Home, Nokia | No Comments


Happy New Year dear all from Nokiamob team. The year 2018 is behind us. It was dynamic for the HMD Global and Nokia community which woke up from 5 years sleep. It is the second birthday of Bringing Nokia Back operation, and HMD is doing a good job there. The Finnish startup took a new design approach by using glass at both sides for almost the whole set of midrange devices. HMD wasn’t immune to the notch trend, and many of its midrange devices got it. They launched 16 new smart and feature phones, and new audio and other accessories.

Here is the list of announced phones in chronological order (reviews or announcement posts linked):
January 2018: Nokia 3310 4G
February 2018 (MWC2018): Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 6.1, Nokia 1, Nokia 8110 4G,
May 2018 (Russia): Nokia 2.1, Nokia 3.1, Nokia 5.1,
July 2018 (India): Nokia 6.1 Plus, Nokia 5.1 Plus,
October 2018 (London): Nokia 7.1, Nokia 3.1 Plus
November 2018: Nokia 106, new Nokia 230 color options
December 2018 (Dubai): Nokia 8.1

Here is the list of announced audio and protective case accessories:
Nokia True Wireless Earbuds, Nokia Pro Wireless Earphones in October 2018 (London) and Nokia Entertainment Flip Cover for 2.1, 3.1 Plus, 5.1 Plus, 7.1 and 8.1.

By watching the list of all the released phones, you can clearly see that the number of midrange phones dominates and that the flagship is still missing. Nokia 9 Pureview should have been there, but that phone will be announced in January 2019, a month before the MWC2019 when large OEMs usually present their smartphones that will mark the year. The story with Nokia 8 Sirocco is pretty much known to all, but the phone that is really a shining start here is Nokia 7 Plus. This phone conquered the smartphone market since it is the best you can get for the money. The successfulness of that phone was confirmed by the release of Nokia 7.1 Plus that was baptized as new Nokia 8, previously known as the affordable flagship phone.

 

HMD didn’t forget about its feature phone segment even though the earnings coming from smartphones were higher than the earnings from sold feature phones for the first time in a long history of Nokia branded devices. The 4G version of now already iconic Nokia 3310 came, and later another great marketing move, brand new banana phone or Nokia 8110 4G. Nokia 106 came at the end of 2018 as did new color options of Nokia 230.

HMD also announced some new accessories, but still didn’t invest significantly in this segment.


After being two years on the market, 2019 should be the year where HMD will finally have the power to launch the ultimate flagship phone that could support 5G network. Also, there is a chance that we could see a variety of other accessories like wireless chargers and maybe full portfolio of cases and even BT speakers for Nokia devices.

The notch is history, and MWC 2019 will be an interesting event where we’ll see what design direction will HMD take and how it will define its smartphone portfolio. The most interesting thing will be the solution for the front-facing camera and how the advanced tech and software will be distributed from flagship to midrange and further on the low-end devices.
two things I would like to see are Nokia branded smartwatch or band and support for Sailfish OS.

Nokia is also doing pretty well. There are still some rearrangements being done in its business model, but the Networks department is well placed for the spread of 5G in the 2019. Nokia’s technology made a difference a long time ago, and its name still connecting billion of people around the world.

On behalf of the whole Nokiamob team, I wish you very happy, healthy and fruitful New Year. Thank you, dear readers, for being with us, for reading everything we had to say, for your unselfish support, for making us better and richer. Thanks to everyone, including Nokia and HMD Global, that brought Nokia back where it belongs and making smartphone market a better place. See you in 2019 ;).

Nokiamob Team!

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